Do you have what it takes to get behind the wheel and be the Getaway Driver?
Well, if you haven’t, you could always put on the uniform and hunt them down!
Following in footsteps of classic movies like Bullitt, The Italian Job, and The Fast and the Furious, Getaway Driver puts you in the driver’s seat in a reckless car chase out of town. Getaway Driver is a fast and frantic asymmetric game for 2 players.
Play as the Driver – a daredevil motorist with the skills to pull a variety of crazy stunts – racing to get out of town. Or play as the Police – armed with a battalion of equipment and vehicles, and the city itself – working to catch the Driver before they escape.
Getaway Driver Game Play
First thing is to decide which player will be the Driver and who will play as the Police. Setup involves placing the starting tiles on the table, the Getaway Car, and a few Police Cars and scattering the Stash Tokens.
The game is over a few phases that alternate between the Driver and the Police.
1 – Police Expand Search Area – The Police player adds face-down tiles around the Getaway Car. The Police get to look at them, and the Getaway Driver has no idea what’s around the corner.
Driver Turn
2 – Driver makes their Escape – Optionally, the Driver can look at a face-down tile. If they do they move their pursuit marker one space down the track. If this gets to the end of the track, the Police win.
Then the Driver moves, flipping over a tile if it’s face down. Some of the tiles have a Midtown bonus that the Driver can use each time they move onto the tile. These abilities include being able to look at face-down tiles or moving the Pursuit Marker back down.
Then the Driver has to deal with the Road Conditions. This depends on the colour of the traffic light on the tile. Green Lights are free and clear and easy for Police to follow so they’re bad for the Driver.
Yellow Lights are half and half. They COULD be bad for the Police if the Driver drives recklessly, placing a Hazard token on that tile. Red is BAD for the Police. They always get a Hazard token.
Hazards
However, if the tile has a Hazard token the Driver will have to use one of their 5 Driver cards from their hand to perform a stunt and avoid the obstacle themselves. This depends on the discarded card having a matching symbol so the stunt performed is one they can use to get out of trouble.
Once a card is played it’s discarded. But the Driver can collect those stash tokens I mentioned earlier. They can spend one to play a card from the discard pile out of the game.
When the Driver moves, any pursuing Police vehicles on the tile follow them. Police vehicles that move onto a tile with a Hazard token crash, and are removed from the game.
The Police Close In
3 – Police Close the Net– Non-pursuing Police vehicles in the city move. Some of the tiles give the Police some enforcement tokens when revealed which they can spend on upgrades. These include more Police Cars but also Helicopters, Armoured Vehicles, Road Spikes etc
Then you go back to Phase 1 where this all repeats. if the final ‘Escape’ tile is placed the Driver wins. If the Pursuit Marker gets to the end of the track or the Driver is unable to move, the Police win.
Theme
The theme is great. It really is a prolonged car chase scene from a film in a box.
You can visualise the chase taking place, the crazy manoeuvres from the driver and the Police cars crashing.
Setup & Rulebook
The setup is weird with things scattered randomly on the table. This is difficult to explain to someone new to the game.
The rulebook is a bit of a mess I feel. Things aren’t written in a sensible order and I really struggled with it.
For example, it says “The Driver may choose whether or not to drive recklessly and create a road hazard.”. So yes, you put a Road Hazard on that tile. But what does ‘Drive Recklessly’ mean? The word ‘Recklessly’ only appears one other time in the rulebook but not to explain what this means.
It is a struggle.
Components & Artwork
For the component quality, why not take a quick look at this unboxing video I did? 🙂
The artwork is great and has a look to it that just says “Car Chase”.
The feel of the artwork throws you back to those films with long car chase scenes from the 60s, 70s and 80s.
Ease of teaching & Accessibility
Once you get your head around the rules, which I haven’t, teaching is still pretty awkward. There are a lot of niggly rules and while there are a few crib sheets they’re far from comprehensive.
I wouldn’t say it’s too accessible. It’s only 2 players but there is a little bit of hidden information. I would guess new players should play as the Police. They have to place the tiles face down but at least their hand of cards are face up.
Getaway Driver Summary
Rules aside, the game is clunky. There are a lot of little rules not written or referenced anywhere. I don’t want this in a quick 2 player game.
As good as the theme and the idea is I just find it too clunky and I don’t want to play it.
I played three-quarters of a game and put it away. It was too difficult to enjoy while constantly trying to remember everything.
There are a lot of 2 player-only games which may not have as fun a theme but will be more enjoyable. even games that aren’t just for 2 players will be more enjoyable with 2.
I immediately think of Patchwork of Hanamikoji. Even card games such as Hero Realms or Keyforge.
Anything else.
Jesta ThaRogue